New York, New York - Time Magazine on Thursday named US President-elect Donald Trump its "person of the year" for 2024, the second time he has won the publican's annual title.

Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, is on magazine's title cover, sporting a red tie.

"For marshaling a comeback of historic proportions, for driving a once-in-a-generation political realignment, for reshaping the American presidency and altering America's role in the world, Donald Trump is Time's 2024 - Person of the Year," the magazine said.

This year saw Trump convicted on charges of business fraud, found liable for sexual assault, and nearly assassinated twice. It will end with him preparing to return to the White House with Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress.

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"We are witnessing a resurgence of populism, a widening mistrust in the institutions that defined the last century, and an eroding faith that liberal values will lead to better lives for most people. Trump is both agent and beneficiary of it all," Time said in a statement.

The award, given out annually, is an acknowledgement of the year's most influential figure. Past winners include Taylor Swift, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Trump himself in 2016, after his shock defeat of Hillary Clinton.

Having dominated the news events of 2024, Trump's influence is set to continue when he assumes the presidency in January.

This time around, Trump is promising mass expulsions of immigrants and major tariffs that threaten to shake up not just the US economy, but those of key trade partners.

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He has cast doubt on continued support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, and has already become something of a shadow president, meeting foreign leaders at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Meanwhile, the criminal cases launched against him over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election are dead in the water.

Kamala Harris was also among those shortlisted for the award, alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza, and Russian economist Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.